Today, let's compare Houston and San Francisco. These two large US cities are attractive ones for different reasons. When it comes to property prices, the median value of a home in San Francisco is simply 5 times what it is in Houston. The difference in rents is much smaller since rents are only 2 times higher in San Francisco than in Houston. Of course this is an incomplete and very basic analysis but it gives an idea on why investing in a rental property makes much more sense in Houston than in San Francisco.